Time to scuttle No Child Left Behind

Published: Thursday, December 27, 2012 at 05:29 PM.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Tenth grade students at Burlington Christian Academy submitted letters to the Open Forum about the state of education in the nation. We are publishing a few of them and will put the remainder online under Unedited Letters to the Editor. We apologize that space wasn’t available to publish all in print.

During class the question was asked — ”are all students treated the same?” The answer is no. In the public school system there are some flaws that need to be dealt with. One of those is the” No Child Left Behind Act” that was encouraged and passed under our former president, George W. Bush in 2003. The act made sure that children do not repeat a grade. The problem with that is that children are not always ready to move to the next grade. Instead of helping them we’re hurting them in the long run. When these” unready” kids go to the next grade it makes them fall behind in their studies, also it hurts the other children who are ready to go because they are always waiting for the others to catch up. Another flaw in this act is that some kids are not mature enough for the next grade. Maturity is important with kids moving up to the next grade.

A solution for this is to abort this act. It not only affects children, but it also hurts this growing economy. If children are not educated enough to do the jobs that are available the economy won’t grow. An educated population of children makes for a growing economy, and world. Education is important and the education system has to realize if students aren’t ready to move on, it’s their job to educate them more effectively and proficiently.

BRIAN PETTIFORDBurlington

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EDITOR’S NOTE: Tenth grade students at Burlington Christian Academy submitted letters to the Open Forum about the state of education in the nation. We are publishing a few of them and will put the remainder online under Unedited Letters to the Editor. We apologize that space wasn’t available to publish all in print.

During class the question was asked — ”are all students treated the same?” The answer is no. In the public school system there are some flaws that need to be dealt with. One of those is the” No Child Left Behind Act” that was encouraged and passed under our former president, George W. Bush in 2003. The act made sure that children do not repeat a grade. The problem with that is that children are not always ready to move to the next grade. Instead of helping them we’re hurting them in the long run. When these” unready” kids go to the next grade it makes them fall behind in their studies, also it hurts the other children who are ready to go because they are always waiting for the others to catch up. Another flaw in this act is that some kids are not mature enough for the next grade. Maturity is important with kids moving up to the next grade.

A solution for this is to abort this act. It not only affects children, but it also hurts this growing economy. If children are not educated enough to do the jobs that are available the economy won’t grow. An educated population of children makes for a growing economy, and world. Education is important and the education system has to realize if students aren’t ready to move on, it’s their job to educate them more effectively and proficiently.